Updates during this time of pandemic and resources to use at home
On Easter Sunday, April 4th, there will be a joint communion service at St Germans Priory at 10am and for those preferring to stay online, a service of The Word at 10am.
Links will be sent out with the weekly service listing. If you don’t receive this, please contact Rev Lynn (details at top right of webpage) to receive these links.
Online options
The Truro Diocese all age session at 9.30 on Facebook continue on a Sunday as usual! There is now a rota for these sessions that will still include Bishop Philip and Ruth.
Or you could still listen to one of the many radio options – Radio 4, Radio Cornwall offer services on a Sunday around 8am.
Or you could look at: Church of England website that now has more services to join – or at many churches and cathedrals up and down the country who have other offerings
A very good resource is https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online
Browse a whole range of prayers you can choose from to read – or listen to:
Or using your computer, tablet or phone (as you prefer) and from your web browser access morning and evening prayer using this link:
Click here and choose what you need.
To read or hear the prayer for today, click on this link: http://cofe.io/TodaysPrayer
Browse around the various pages and you’re sure to find something that interests you.
Alternatively download an App for your tablet or phone. Church House Publishing or provide a number of these Apps and these can be downloaded from https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/apps/daily-prayer
Ensuring that children and young people as well as adults are kept safe whilst in our care is an integral part of our church life. If you have any concerns about safeguarding please contact:
In the Parish: Margaret Sylvester-Thorne, Parish Safeguarding Co-ordinator, 01503 230676 (vicarage number, messages will be forwarded)
In the Diocese: Sarah Acraman Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, 01872 274351
Out of Hours for after 5pm and weekends: 01208 251300
In an emergency situation:
Local Authority Children’s Social Care: 0300 123 1116
Local Authority Adult’s Social Care: 0300 1234131
Parish Priest: Rev. Canon Lynn Parker – main point of contact for all matters
Curate: Rev. Laura Bushell-Hawke
Parish Wardens: Paul Gribble and Bill Woods
Readers/Licensed Lay Ministers: Richard Laugharne, Margaret Sylvester-Thorne, David Watters, Matt Frost
For weddings, baptisms, funerals and church services: Rev. Canon Lynn Parker, David Watters and Margaret Sylvester-Thorne
Children’s work: Rev. Canon Lynn Parker, Evelyn Reed, David Watters, Margaret Sylvester-Thorne, Rev Laura Bushell-Hawke
Messy Church: Evelyn Reed
For buildings and general parish enquiries: the Parish Wardens: Paul Gribble and Bill Woods
For Safeguarding: Rev Laura Bushell-Hawke
Pastoral Visitors Team: Pat Paxton
Parish Giving Scheme: Paul Gribble
Finances: the Treasurer, Paul Gribble
Electoral Roll: Rosemary Stevenson
Enquiries about individual churches:
Downderry: Andrew Pidgen
Hessenford: Fran Moore
St Germans: Richard Laugharne
Tideford: Evelyn Reed
Deanery Synod Reps: David Watters, Rosemary Stevenson and Paul Gribble
Cashiers: Peter Daw – St Germans; Tim Pullin – Downderry; Hugh Parker – Tideford and Fiona Bristow – Hessenford.
Additional PCC Members from November 2020
Tim Pullin, Stephen Guffick, Tilly Thompson, Yvonne Byles, Hugh Parker, Susan Booth, Dawn Couling, and Fiona Bristow
Hire and other info on St Germans Priory Church for events:
The St Germans Priory Trust: www.stgermanspriory.info
Hire of the Church Hall in Hessenford: http://www.hessenford.net
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EASTER 2021: ACTS 10: 34 – 43; JOHN 20: 1 – 18
Let’s be clear, first of all, what didn’t happen that first Easter Day. Jesus was not resuscitated. He wasn’t brought back to life to carry on as he had been living before. Not at all. This is something quite different.
We know this is something different because we’ve already seen what you might call a resuscitation in St. John’s gospel – although it’s not a resuscitation in the sense we understand that word medically today, for this person was truly dead, but he came back, quite wonderfully, to life. But he came back to life as it had been for him before; to carry on as he had been living before, even facing a death threat in the process. I’m talking, as you might have guessed, about Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.
When Lazarus came out of the tomb, at Jesus’ command, he came out, as John says, ‘tied up, hand and foot with strips of linen, and his face was wrapped in a cloth’. And Jesus had to order him to be untied.
But when John and Peter ran to Jesus’ tomb is was not to find the past repeating itself. Peter goes into the tomb and sees the grave clothes still folded, not as if a body had been laboriously unwrapped outside, as with Lazarus, but as if someone had just passed right through them, right there in the tomb, and left them behind, just lying there. And when John himself goes into the tomb we are told that he saw and believed. He understood what he saw. He saw and believed.
He understood that something truly new has just begun. And what an astonishing shock it must have given him! He understood that Jesus had been raised from the dead. He understood that God, in an astonishing explosion of creative power, had raised Jesus’ cold, dead body to life. He has passed through the grave clothes; he has burst through the barrier of death. He has left his grave clothes behind him, because he has left the grave behind him, because he has left death itself behind him.
And that is what John believes. He doesn’t believe that Jesus has been resuscitated. He believes that he has been raised. He believes that he has begun an utterly new life. He believes that Jesus has stepped though death into a wholly new, completely new, quality of life: a quality of life that makes life lived up to that point seem shallow, pale and colourless by comparison. He believes, in other words, not in resuscitation: he believes in resurrection.
RESURRECTION IS NOT A GOING BACK TO WHAT WAS BEFORE
Resurrection, then, is not a going back to what was before, but a going forward to what is new, to what God is bringing into being, to what God is bringing to new birth. And I want to suggest today that we so much need the resurrection power of our God, and the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, in so many areas of our life. We need that power in the way we live together, in society, both locally and globally; we need that power in the life of the Church; and we need that power too in the life of each one of us.
How might we see the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in the way we live together, both locally and globally? A key question for us is what life after the pandemic will be like. And I want to say with all my heart that I do not believe we must talk about things going back to normal. It was not normal that we were living unsustainably on this earth, feeding climate change, pursuing ever greater economic growth, as if the earth’s resources were inexhaustible and expendable.
Nor is it normal that in the world today power and wealth lie in the hands of an increasing few; that the rule of law is so often flouted; that strong men (and they are all men) flex their muscles with impunity; that so many minorities are under threat; that religious freedom is so often denied. None of that is normal and nor should we accept it as such.
THE PANDEMIC HUMBLED US AND BROUGHT US UP SHORT
Think back to last spring – even in the midst of the pandemic we saw nature stepping back into its proper place and the world burst into life around us. The pandemic humbled us and brought us up short. We were taught to sit still and step back. It’s a key lesson for all humanity. We must learn to live more lightly and lovingly on this earth. And to do so would be a true sign of resurrection life. And it is resurrection we need: going forward to something better; not resuscitation that takes us back to where we were before.
And what would resurrection life look like in the life of the Church? Again, I don’t think we can simply say we will go back to what was before. Of course there’s much we’ve missed: the sheer physicality of taking both bread and wine; the joy of singing. There’s much we will welcome back. But we mustn’t simply go back. We have learnt so much in this last year, not least about how we can better love and serve our communities, as well as all the creativity we’ve shown in going online. I hope that in the future we might sit a little more lightly to things we have perhaps held a little too dear: a bit like Mary in the garden wanting to cling on to Jesus as if she’s not recognised that something truly new is going on.
But above all else, as the Church of God, we must ensure that the life of Jesus, his risen, resurrection, presence, is made manifest amongst us. We are the Body of Christ, we say, and so we are always in one sense. But equally the extent to which the presence of Christ is known in the Church is the extent to which we are open to him; the extent to which we are dependent on him; and the extent to which we are asking him to make his presence known in us and through us. This world so much needs to meet the risen Christ, and it in the Church of Christ that he ought most surely to be met. So it is resurrection we need in the Church of God: resurrection that takes us forward to something better; not resuscitation that takes us back to where we were before.
And how might we see the resurrection life of Jesus at work in each one of us? Think of Mary, desolate in the garden: until Jesus simply says, ‘Mary’. When he calls her by name, everything changes, something wholly new begins. Jesus touches her heart and he changes her life. He calls her by name, he knows her, and he loves her, and her grief and sorrow are turned to wonder, amazement and joy. Through this meeting she experiences resurrection life not only in him, but in herself as well.
And through the resurrection of Jesus a wholly new relationship becomes possible. Up to now Jesus has called God, the father or my father. Up to now Jesus has called those close to him his disciples, or servants, or friends even. But now through the resurrection everything has changed, and a whole new relationship with the Father becomes possible. What is it he says to Mary? Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ He could hardly make the point more clearly. ‘My father is your Father. My God is your God.’ Through the resurrection the disciples are welcomed into a whole new world where they can know God in just the way Jesus knows him: where they can be intimate children of their father, enjoying just the same intimacy Jesus enjoys with him. Nothing less than that.
THIS IS RESURRECTION WHICH TAKES US ON TO SOMETHING WHOLLY NEW
But this is not just something historical. This is for now; this is for us all; and this is for ever. This is not resuscitation that takes us backwards to what was before. This is resurrection which takes us on to something wholly new: something new for human society, for the church of God, and for each of us, just as it was for Mary. Here and now, just as with Mary, Jesus knows us, and he loves us and he calls us each by name. And we only have to answer him to find, like Mary, that our own griefs and sorrows, including the many griefs of the last year, are turned to wonder, amazement and joy; to find that we are beloved children of our Father. We only have to answer him to find, like Mary, that this day can be for us too the day of resurrection. In love, today, Jesus Christ, the risen one, calls this world, calls his Church, and call us each and every one, by name. Here and now, may we hear him, and hearing him, may we answer and know that nothing will ever be the same again. Amen.
+Bishop Philip
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For this month’s newsletter please click on this link March Newsletter
Continuing our series of who’s who within the benefice – this month it is the turn of Fiona Harvey, Treasurer at Sheviock.
My name is Fiona Harvey and my current role within the church is to act as Treasurer at St Mary’s Sheviock. I am Sheviock Parish “born and bred”! I was lucky enough to be born (and still live) at Portwrinkle in the family home which arguably is blessed with one of the most spectacular views along this stretch of the coast. Born into a Christian family, church membership has always been part of my life. I was baptised at St Mary’s using water from Ladywell as was traditional in those days. In family lore I could well have been introducing myself to you as “What Harvey” – the story being that when the then rector gave the instruction “Name this child”, the answer given “Fiona Mary” – was an unfamiliar name to the elderly gentleman and he responded in a loud roar “WHAT Mary”!!!
One of four siblings, I enjoyed all the freedoms of a typical 1950s country childhood with the only constraints being arrival home in time for meals and bedtime. The foundations of our family life were love, respect and hospitality. We were taken to church from infancy, usually in those days to Antony in the morning for matins and often with a walk to Sheviock in the evening for evensong. The Christian values taught at home were re-enforced by early school life at our church school at Antony. We all trooped down the path to a service in church each Tuesday morning and we always looked forward to Ascension Day at it marked the annual school visit to Paignton Zoo!!!
When we were teenagers, our parents were keen that we should have a broader experience of young Christian life than our small country churches could offer, so we became members of the congregation at St Martin’s Church in Liskeard and it was there that I was confirmed. In due course I went off to Bath to study English and to fulfil my long held ambition to train as a teacher. This achieved, I returned to Cornwall and taught for most of my career at Looe where I specialised in Early Years. I loved teaching the children on their first entry to school and especially enjoyed the pastoral aspects of my role. It was a joy to watch the children thrive and grow to adulthood and often to see them return to enrol their own children. However, when one of my first pupils arrived to introduce his grandchild to school life, I knew that it was time to retire!!
During my twenties, my attendance at church became more sporadic but later in my thirties and forties I once again became a regular member of the congregation – now back at St Mary’s. Increasingly, as part of a busy professional life, the opportunity to step aside for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning to rest, reflect and restore became important. I likened it to friends as “pulling off the motorway into a service station to refuel”. At this time, I was asked to take on roles within the church – I became a member of the PCC and a pastoral assistant.
After I retired there was time to expand these roles. I was invited to become a eucharistic assistant and to administer Home Communions and this became the focus of my pastoral work. It has been a privilege to share these special times with those who are no longer able to attend the church – also a special link for me because our Home Communion set here at Sheviock was presented to St Mary’s by my family in memory of our parents. More time gave opportunities for other experiences. In 2009, in common with several other Cornish churches, St Mary’s celebrated the 750th anniversary of its re-dedication by Bishop Bronescombe and with fellow members of the congregation, I spent a wonderful four weeks in September and October re-tracing the bishop’s steps on a sponsored walk visiting as many of his churches as possible. It was good to meet up with so many other congregations and to talk about their hopes and challenges. I had another chance to experience Christian life in a different place when I was invited to join a group from Sheviock and St Germans which visited Sweden in 2015, once again a precious opportunity to find out about other traditions and a treasured memory.
In 2010, I had the privilege to be elected churchwarden here at St Mary’s and would encourage anyone who is invited to take on this role to jump at the chance. It gives a unique and rewarding opportunity to serve your church, your incumbent and your fellow worshippers.
So, having read all this – HOW, you might ask, has someone whose focus has always been “people based” finished up dealing with the complexities of church finance as TREASURER? The truth is that it fell into my lap and was not something that I would have been naturally drawn to. When I was nearing the end of my term as churchwarden, our long serving treasurer felt that the time had come for him to finish and no one else stepped forward. The PCC is not able to operate without a treasurer, so in the absence of anyone else the responsibility devolves to the churchwardens. With great trepidation I agreed to take it on for one year and here we are five years later! Thanks to huge support from a friend who is a retired accountant and the forbearance of a long suffering PCC, I have learnt to navigate my way through the records and deliver financial reports. It is said that there is benefit in learning new skills as we grow older and I now understand the satisfaction of a neatly balanced set of figures. I began from a standing start and if I can do it anyone can, so if you are given the opportunity, HAVE A GO!!
A chance to discuss ideas and thoughts about all matter of things theological.
After a short introduction of 5 minutes (or more), the conversation is open.
Meet via Zoom from 7.30 – 8.30pm every other Tuesday
Topics: TBA….please let Richard have any suggestions
For a Zoom link or enquiries or suggestions, ring Richard Laugharne (01503-230333) or email on richard.laugharne@nhs.net
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Following the heavy rains in December and January the church hall in Hessenford was flooded as the river rose and backed up against the bridge by the pub. The flooding was minor compared to the previous event a few years back, a testament to the effectiveness of the flood prevention measures put in after that, but nonetheless left the floor and lower walls very damp. The insurance assessor recommended use of an industrial dehumidifier and fan to do the drying out that was needed. Research quickly showed that after a short period or rental it was cheaper to purchase the equipment we needed, and we are delighted to have been awarded a grant by the Cornwall Community Foundation (CCF) for that purchase. A huge thank you to them, drying out is now going on. Purchase also means that we have equipment at the ready if this happens again, or to assist elsewhere in the benefice should there be a need. You can find out more about CCF’s other good works by clicking on this link: CCF website.
Thanks also go to the good folk on the hall committee for all the work they did clearing up and making the application for the grant – all much appreciated.
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Currently cancelled, but work going on in the background
Messy Church is a form of church for children and adults that involves creativity, celebration and hospitality – it’s fun!
If you’d like to help out please speak to Evelyn or ring her on 01503 230449
Find out more at https://www.messychurch.org.uk/what-messy-church-and-isnt
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None at present
Phone 01503 230676 (Rev Lynn Parker – main contact)
The parish address for email is:
parker30@hotmail.com (main contact)
If you are able, please consider a donation to help the work of the church in our community by clicking on the logo:
Please refer to main page for details. Our online services continue, see below.
All services are at 10am unless otherwise noted
| Sunday | Date | Location | Service |
| 1st Sunday | 4th Apr | Sheviock | No service |
| 4th Apr – Easter Day | St Germans | United service at 10am | |
| 4th Apr – Easter Day | Online | Worship 10am | |
| 2nd Sunday | 11th Apr | St Germans | United service at 10am |
| 11th Apr | Antony | No service | |
| 11th Apr | Online | Worship 10am | |
| 3rd Sunday | 18th Apr | St Germans | United service at 10am |
| 18th Apr | Sheviock | No service | |
| 18th Apr | Online | Worship 10am | |
| 4th Sunday | 25th Apr | Antony | No service |
| 25th Apr | St Germans | Joint service at 10am | |
| 25th Apr | Online | Worship 10am Palm Sunday | |
| 5th Sunday | No 5th Sunday | No service | |
Regular weekday services are also suspended:
| Every Tuesday | 10am | Tideford | No service |
| Every Wednesday | No service | Downderry | No service |
| Every Thursday | 10am | Hessenford | No service |
We will continue to run our online services as below:
| Day | Time | Service | |
| Sundays | 10am | Morning Worship | |
| Mondays | 7pm | Evening or Night prayer | |
| Tuesdays | 10am | Morning Worship | |
| Wednesdays | 10am | Morning Prayer | |
| Thursdays | 7pm | Evening or Night prayer | |
| Fridays | 10am | Morning Prayer | |
| Saturdays | 7pm | Evening or Night prayer |
Please email Rev. Lynn, details below, if you would like to join us.
| Rev. Lynn | parker30@hotmail.com |
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We are reviewing opening our churches openings for private prayer only.
A good resource for prayers and services is https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online
The area of the Diocese of Truro area is that of the county of Cornwall including the Isles of Scilly. It was formed on 15 December 1876 from the Archdeaconry of Cornwall in the Diocese of Exeter. It is therefore one of the younger dioceses.
The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries:
The names of the older deaneries (before 1875) are based on those of the ancient hundreds though the boundaries do not always correspond. The deaneries created in 1875 in the episcopate of Frederick Temple were Bodmin, Stratton, St Austell, and Carnmarth. These remained unchanged until Carnmarth was divided; later still in the 1980s some alterations of boundaries occurred. Chronological Sequence:
Estwevelsire, 1259; Estwyvelschyre, 1291; Estwevelschire, 1366; Easte, 1672; East, 1847, 1980; East Wivelshire, 1997, 2009.
Permanent members of the PCC
The Vicar – Rev Canon Lynn Parker
LayChair – Rosemary Stevenson
Secretary – Evelyn Reed
Treasurer – Paul Gribble
Parish Wardens:
Paul Gribble and Bill Woods
Church Stewards:
Downderry: Andrew Pidgen
Hessenford: Fran Moore
Tideford: Sue Merrick
St Germans: Richard Laugharne
PCC members:
Downderry: Sue Booth, Jenny Daniels Cashiers: Tim Pullin
Hessenford: Yvonne Byles, Dawn Couling. Cashier: Fiona Bristow
St Germans: Sue Merrick, Evelyn Reed. Cashier: Peter Daw
Tideford: Hugh Parker. Cashier: Peter Daw
Deanery Synod Reps:
Margaret Sylvester-Thorne, David Watters. Bill Woods